California Men Sentenced For Meth Conspiracy
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - - James Shroba, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, announced today that two California men have been sentenced in federal court for their roles in a conspiracy to distribute large amounts of methamphetamine in southwest Missouri.
Jaime Gonzalez-Alvarado, 33, a citizen of Mexico residing in South Baja, Calif., and Camilo Acosta, 22, of Imperial Beach, Calif., were sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015. Gonzalez-Alvarado was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison without parole. Acosta was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison without parole.
On May 13, 2015, Gonzalez-Alvarado pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Barry County, Mo., from March 1, 2012, to Oct. 11, 2013. He also pleaded guilty to possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute.
Gonzalez-Alvarado admitted that he directed the delivery and then the distribution of methamphetamine, which was being delivered from California to the residence of co-defendant Julio Vincente Mendoza, 33, a Mexican citizen who is a resident alien residing in Monett, Mo. This methamphetamine was then distributed by Gonzalez-Alvarado and others in the Monett area and throughout southwest Missouri.
On Oct. 11, 2013, law enforcement officers in Oklahoma seized one of these shipments of methamphetamine that was enroute to Mendoza’s residence in Monett. Officers seized 15 tape-wrapped bundles of methamphetamine weighing 14.61 kilograms.
On the same day, Missouri law enforcement officers conducted a controlled delivery of a portion of the methamphetamine to Mendoza’s residence, where they arrested Gonzalez-Alvarado and the other co-conspirators. Officers executed a search warrant and seized $57,660 found in a locked safe, $3,000 found in a downstairs bedroom, a Smith and Wesson 10mm semi-automatic handgun with 50 rounds of ammunition, packaging material consistent with the packaging of methamphetamine, approximately 3.5 grams of methamphetamine, a glass pipe commonly used to ingest methamphetamine and a drug ledger notebook which contained names, numbers, and currency amounts.
Mendoza and co-defendants Ernie Soto, 22, and Armando Arizpe, 24, both of Los Angeles, Calif., pleaded guilty to their roles in the drug-trafficking conspiracy. Mendoza, Soto and Arizpe were each sentenced to three years in federal prison without parole.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Randall D. Eggert and Nhan Nguyen. It was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Missouri State Highway Patrol; the Canadian County, Okla., Sheriff’s Department; the Barry County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department; and the Barry County, Mo., Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
